People Spotlight: Meet Eirini Kolyvaki
Our People Spotlight series gives you an inside look at our technical experts around the world. This week, we are highlighting a senior engineer from our Water business line in Scotland and providing an insight into their inspiration and work.
Eirini Kolyvaki has over nine years of professional experience in civil design, geomatics engineering and BIM. Since joining AECOM in 2015, she has played a key role in Scottish Water’s Caledonia Water Alliance. As a civil engineer, she has contributed to major projects like Bertha Park, using innovative solutions to minimize environmental impact and community disruption. Her work has been crucial in delivering clean water to new homes and improving the resilience of the Scottish Water network.
What inspired you to join the industry?
After completing a Master of Engineering and a Master of Science, I worked as a research assistant in a 2-year university programme in Greece. However, I always wanted to expand my horizons by working abroad. So, after the completion of this programme, I decided to move to the United Kingdom and start my career in the construction industry.
I worked in the building sector for a few years. While planning for my career progression in the industry, I learned about the Water engineer role at AECOM, which seemed like an excellent opportunity to widen my knowledge in a different civil engineering field and help improve quality of life for communities. I have always loved problem solving and thinking outside of the box, and I strongly believed that a large organisation such as AECOM could provide many opportunities to get exposure to different engineering aspects and sectors.
I joined AECOM in 2015 and was engaged in Caledonia Water Alliance since my first day, delivering infrastructure projects for Scottish Water.
I worked in the building sector for a few years. While planning for my career progression in the industry, I learned about the Water engineer role at AECOM, which seemed like an excellent opportunity to widen my knowledge in a different civil engineering field and help improve quality of life for communities.”
What is your favorite AECOM project that you’ve worked on and why?
Over the past few years, I have been involved in the Bertha Park project as a civil engineer. It is one of the largest projects within Caledonia Water Alliance and is a major water project in Perth, Scotland, which aims to supply clean water to a new mixed-use development (consisting of 3,000 residential units, a secondary school and commercial units), accommodate the expected population growth in the area and build resilience in the existing Scottish Water network. The project involves the design and construction of several water and wastewater pipelines and a new distribution service reservoir.
One of the challenges we have faced in this project involves design constraints such as river and road crossings. To work around this, we utilised trenchless crossing methods to avoid road closures and undermining of structures, and to reduce our environmental impact.
Working collaboratively in a multidisciplinary environment with mechanical, electrical, process, structural, geotechnical, hydraulics, flooding, highways, rail and temporary works teams has broadened my knowledge and technical expertise. Moreover, being involved in the full lifecycle of the project from initial design to the construction stage was a valuable experience.
Bertha Park is one of the largest projects within Caledonia Water Alliance and is a major water project in Perth, Scotland, which aims to supply clean water to a new mixed-use development, accommodate the expected population growth in the area and build resilience in the existing Scottish Water network. Working collaboratively in a multidisciplinary environment with mechanical, electrical, process, structural, geotechnical, hydraulics, flooding, highways, rail and temporary works teams has broadened my knowledge and technical expertise.”
Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.
For every project I have worked on, there has always been a focus on respecting and engaging with the local communities by minimizing disturbance, investing in local suppliers and reducing carbon emissions. In the Bertha Park project, for example, we incorporated sustainable materials into the design where existing ground materials were reused and mixed with an eco-proactive binder resulting in a small import of aggregates and zero offsite disposal. We also reduced the required earthworks for the structure of the distribution service reservoir. This was a challenging exercise as the required hydraulic levels and site screening could not be compromised. Solutions such as these have a positive impact on our communities and the environment.
With this project we aim to supply clean water to more than 3,000 new homes and build resilience for the existing Scottish Water network.
In the Bertha Park project, we incorporated sustainable materials into the design where existing ground materials were reused and mixed with an eco-proactive binder resulting in a small import of aggregates and zero offsite disposal. We also reduced the required earthworks for the structure of the distribution service reservoir. With this project we aim to supply clean water to more than 3,000 new homes and build resilience for the existing Scottish Water network.”
Share a piece of career advice.
When it comes to our career journey, it is important to see the big picture and find a purpose — aspects of our work that make us feel more motivated. During this journey, there might be moments where we need to re-evaluate our purpose and find new goals for our professional development. It always helps to look for an impactful organisational culture, step out of our comfort zone, embrace our diversities and never stop learning.
